On My Desk Wednesday :: Ready To Hand Stitch My Throw

Please excuse the bad pics. Took these with my phone while my camera is out of service.

After much procrastination, I've taken my throw out and started working on it again. I ran into a few snags and almost gave up.

SNAGS :

1. No safety pins. Constantly poking and stabbing myself, I'm surprised I didn't throw this across the room.
2. Not enough work space. Laying it on my floor is killer on my bad back. Not enough sewing room. This throw is so heavy that while I was trying to quilt it, it was constantly falling off the table and pulling. Which caused crooked stitching. I ended up keeping the stitching and almost completing. Came across this blog post, link, and a light bulb went off. Took me a few hours but I ripped out all the stitching I'd done so far.
3. Since I changed to The Simple Tied Quilt, I had to readjust some of my measurements. I was in a rush so I constantly found myself readjusting my measurements.

Now, I'm almost done! Everything is in place and ready to be hand stitched. I'm loving how it is looking. This is motivation to hurry up and finish.

On My Desk Wednesdays :: Painting

Getting ready for father's day. The boys and I were painting up a storm. We've decided to make dad a picture frame. Hey look ... the N is upside down ... thank goodness nothing is attached yet.

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On My Desk Wednesdays :: Attaching the Squares

Still working on that Patchwork Throw ... I'm supposed to pin the squares to muslin, which I'm out of right now. I wanted to get an idea of how the front will look. I pieced the front together and as soon as I acquire some muslin, I'll re-piece it.

On My Desk Wednesdays :: Pressing Fabric

Still working on that quilt. I did as much pressing as time allowed. I still have a more edges to press under.

On My Desk Wednesday :: Fabric Cutting

I've been procrastinating but I finally started cutting my fabric pieces out for my quilt. My least favorite part of sewing ... ironing and cutting.

On My Desk Wednesdays :: New Reading Glasses

At the moment my desk has a stack of books that are ready to go back to the library. On top of that stack is my new reading glasses. I finally broke down and bought a pair. Words are a little more crisper.

Look how stylish they are! Although, I still feel frumpy when I wear them.

On My Desk Wednesdays :: Book Labels

I've been sharing, borrowing, buying, trading, books lately. Created some book labels in Illustrator.

On My Desk Wednesdays :: Topstitching

Adding some decorative stitching to a bag/pouch I'm making. Full pictures will be posted as soon as I'm done.

On My Desk Wednesday :: Sewing Frustration

I came across a little sewing mishap. Just a little something to make me so frustrated that I put the project away and haven't retried in a few days. Brought it back out. Now, I'm trying to figure out why the back panel and front panel are off by 1" in the crotch!

Other players.

On My Desk Wednesday :: Sewing Baby Kimono

Sewing Kimono-Style PJ's. Pattern comes from Amy Butler's Little Stitches for Little Ones. Pictures will be posted as soon as I'm done.

On My Desk Wednesday :: Gocco-ed Baby Shower Invites

Finished Gocco-ing my sister's baby shower invites. Getting them ready to send out.

Flower design and lettering was screen printing with Gocco. A Cricut machine was used to create the prego lady.

After I flashed/burned the image, the time of the party was changed. Instead of burning a new screen, I placed a piece of masking tape over the time (underside of screen). I then hand wrote the new time.

*Flower design via Brusheezy.

On My Desk Wednesday :: Recycled Magazine Bows

Made all my gift bows this year. Another easy, fast, fun project.

>> Tutorial <<

Thanks Kimberly Michelle for sharing the link to this tutorial.

On My Desk Wednesday :: Gift Boxes

Charmingz created 2 beautifully dainty necklaces for me. In the midst of trying to come up with a way to package them, this cute gift box tutorial showed up on my Google Reader.

On My Desk Wednesday :: Testing Gocco Screen

I flashed a screen the other day. By the look of it, I wasn't sure it burned properly. There looked to be to much carbon on screen. I squeegeed ink to see if it would print. It printed okay, not great. Good enough to try it in my Pg-11.

On My Desk Wednesday :: Lightbox

Practicing my photography skills. I'm improving, but not quite there. I've reread my manual on aperture, white balance, and exposure ... aaahh! This is very frustrating for me. I've never, will I ever, be a great photographer. It's just not in my genes.

*TIP* :: switching to manual mode has definitely made the difference.

On My Desk Wednesday :: Marble Magnets

Making a little something to jazz up the fridge. If you're interested in making your own, here's two really good references ... Not Martha, The Cafe.

For adhesives I used Craft Silicone Adhesive and E-600.

If you love the look but don't want the work ... take a look at Daisy Mae Designs, I love all her designs and they come beautifully packaged.

On My Desk Wednesday :: Screen Printing Mess

The good kind of mess ...

Here is a print I'm working on. Started out 3 layers/colors, now 4. This is a picture of the screen after the first layer/color was printed. I have a future post on this print. Once I'm all done, I'll post more.

Here is a close up picture of my registration tabs ... technique courtesy of Print Liberation.

On My Desk Wednesday :: Filling In The Holes

On my desk is my new screen, screen filler and brush. See the line? My piece of glass (used to weight image during burning) is smaller than screen but larger than image. Since the edge of the glass sits on the screen, it doesn't allow light to harden the emulsion in that area ... creating that line. I use the screen filler to fill that line and any pinholes.

I only have one scoop coater, which is to large for this screen ... I could have really used the help of that coater. Instead I used a squeegee to apply emulsion. I still have a hard time applying the emulsion evenly with a squeegee. Luckily, the screen still burned evenly.

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On My Desk Wednesday :: Halloween Prepping

Costume making time. My oldest wants to be a cat. I'm making him some cat ears to attach to his hoodie.

On My Desk Wednesday :: Goodies

Look what the postman delivered to me ... some Japanese Goodness courtesy of Leslie. It was even sent in a cute decorative mailer. They're almost to cute to use. I love the foam stamps!

On My Desk Wednesdays :: other players.